Defense NewsAnother round of political fights between the president and congressional Democrats has raised the possibility of a partial government shutdown in December, potentially disrupting Pentagon operations and military paychecks.READ MORE

Navy TimesAll five armed service branches have locked in their mid-career cash-payout plans as part of the military's new retirement system, and they've all done it at the same level — the lowest allowed by law.READ MORE

Defense NewsAfter Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess, budget forecasters are hoping for a year-end spending deal, a pre-Christmas miracle to avert a government shutdown. But by no means is a deal in hand. READ MORE

Defense NewsAhead of a bipartisan budget deal expected before year's end, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran is recommending a $650.7 billion spending package for the military in fiscal 2018. READ MORE

AirForce TimesThe Department of Veterans Affairs is accepting applications for new Veteran ID cards as of today, but questions surrounding the program's costs and private sector involvement remain unclear.READ MORE

Military Times
The number of personal misconduct complaints involving senior military leaders spiked 13 percent over the past three years, the Pentagon's inspector general reported Tuesday, citing the issue as one of the top management concerns currently facing the military.
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Defense News
The White House-backed tax plan is projected to increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next decade, but Senate defense hawks are saying they're not worried that steeper deficits will squeeze future military spending.
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Marine Corps Times
The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee approved its version of a VA health care overhaul, including easier access for veterans to meet with private-sector doctors and a massive expansion of the department's caregivers assistance programs.
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Global NewsHawaii has become one of the first states in the nation to initiate a nuclear preparedness campaign, and starting Dec. 1, it will reinstate the "attack warning" siren, which it hasn't tested since the Cold War. The siren will follow the monthly "attention alert" signal, which warns people of an incoming tsunami or hurricane.READ MORE

Military.comCongress' annual defense authorization bill is chock full of measures that impact troops, their families and retirees. It's now one step closer to becoming reality after House and the Senate negotiators agreed on a compromise version that will soon head for a vote in each chamber before hitting the president's desk. READ MORE

Military TimesCongressional lawmakers are boasting that the recently passed fiscal 2018 defense authorization bill has the largest pay raise for troops in the past eight years. But that has less to do with newfound generosity among lawmakers and more to do with the expected rise in civilian wages next year. Included in the massive budget bill is a 2.4 percent pay raise for service members starting Jan. 1.READ MORE

Military TimesCongress wants to help more military spouses living overseas find work, even if that means telecommuting across an ocean. Tucked into the annual defense authorization bill, which is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump later this month, is a provision for a new pilot program "providing telework facilities for military spouses on military installations outside the United States."READ MORE

Military.com"The Department of Defense intends to issue a policy change to the 'Post-9/11 GI Bill' regarding the transferability of benefits to eligible family members," Anthony Kurta, acting deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in a written statement. "Effective one year from this change, the ability to transfer benefits will be limited to service members with less than 16 years of total service." READ MORE

Military TimesThe U.S. has almost 26,000 troops deployed total in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, according to a new DoD report, far exceeding the Pentagon's previously acknowledged troop levels overseas. The U.S. has 8,892 forces in Iraq, 15,298 troops in Afghanistan and 1,720 in Syria, for a total of 25,910 troops serving in the three war zones according to DoD. READ MORE

Military.com The Department of Veterans Affairs fails to report 90 percent of poor-performing doctors to national and state databases intended to alert other hospitals of misconduct, according to findings released by the Government Accountability Office. The government watchdog found VA officials were slow to investigate when concerns were raised about the performance of certain doctors. READ MORE

Commissary Web Posts

The following commissary items were recently posted to the ALA Website (www.ALA-National.org):

Progressive GrocerWhole Foods Market has promoted Christina Minardi to EVP of operations from Northeast regional president, effective immediately.
Minardi, who previously oversaw 40 stores in three states, now leads four regions while co-leading the integration with Amazon, reimaging the customer experience and driving ecommerce initiatives, among other key store and regional programs. She joins Ken Meyer and David Lannon as the third EVP of operations.READ MORE

Supermarket NewsDollar Tree is rolling into the year-end holiday season with momentum after posting better-than-expected third-quarter results.
Buoyed by remodeled stores with expanded food assortments, the dollar-store chain reported comparable-store sales growth of 3.2 percent for the third quarter and raised its earnings outlook for the year.READ MORE

FMIOur industry is at a tipping point: We know more shoppers are buying more food and related products across more channels than ever before; center store categories are already making their way online; and food retailers and their suppliers will need to adopt new business models and new technologies to find their way in this new era of "connected commerce." As a leading industry Association, we must help food retailers and their trading partners better understand the dynamics that characterize this marketplace, identify the barriers to overcome and help trading partners build a new model of collaboration.
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Progressive GrocerThe United Fresh Produce Association's Q3 2017 edition of the "FreshFacts on Retail" report notes the key role that fresh perimeter items play in drawing shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores as retailers prepare for consumers to use online delivery services for packaged goods.
Additionally, the newly released quarterly report delves into how produce department innovation spurs consumer demand for pasta and rice alternatives.
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Daily JournalChobani, the company that helped kick-start the Greek yogurt craze, is shrinking those words on its label as it may expand beyond that food in an increasingly crowded yogurt market.
The new look, which will show up in supermarkets soon, removes "Greek Yogurt" from underneath the Chobani name.READ MORE

ReutersAnglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever is to buy U.S.-based company Sundial Brands, a maker of hair and skincare products, expanding deeper into the fast-growing personal care products market. Sundial, a 26-year-old company based in New York, is home to brands including SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage and Madam C.J. Walker. It is expected to have turnover of $240 million this year.
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Whole Foods MagazineAlbertsons will roll out online grocery ordering and delivery at 1,800 of its stores by mid-2018 with technology provided by Instacart.
The addition of Albertsons to its lineup gives Instacart the ability to reach about 68 percent of the U.S. population with same-day delivery. Its goal is 80 percent of the U.S. population by the end of next year, Nilam Ganenthiran, chief business officer of Instacart, told Winsight Grocery Business.READ MORE

By Bambi Majumdar A recent Wall Street Journal article chronicled how grocery stores are racing to master big data and leverage that information to stay ahead in the grocery wars. Stores are competing with each other and also with online behemoths like Amazon and its smaller counterparts. The digital age has made it possible for all businesses, big or small, to compete on an equal footing. Media and marketing are no longer just the domain of those with deeper pockets.READ MORE

Stars and StripesConfetti swirled in the air while South Korean drummers and the 8th Army band played to celebrate the grand opening of Camp Humphreys' new post exchange, the third largest in the world.
It was the latest in a series of ribbon-cuttings at the expanded Army garrison, which is the centerpiece of plans to relocate the bulk of U.S. forces on the divided peninsula to regional hubs south of Seoul.READ MORE

Tampa Bay TimesHoward Altman writes: "In the more than three decades that I have been toiling at various paragraph factories, few stories have elicited as much response as the one I wrote about the new program to allow all honorably discharged veterans to shop at military base exchanges like the one at MacDill Air Force Base. I received more than five dozen phone calls, and plenty of emails, from veterans and their families having a hard time signing up for the program."
Gil Herman, 80, of New Port Richey, was one of them.
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America's NavyThe first jet squadrons from Carrier Air Wing FIVE (CVW-5) relocated from Naval Air Facility Atsugi to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni Nov. 28 after the conclusion of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group (CSG 5) patrol.
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The Wall Street JournalWal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. battled to capture spending over the holiday weekend, as the shifts that have upended the retail industry this year were on display: fewer people visited traditional stores on Thanksgiving and Black Friday while online purchases continued to surge.
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The Motley FoolThis year has been a banner year for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The retail giant, which was considered a dinosaur not long ago, has seen its stock jump 40 percent this year, besting nearly every other retailer.
Going into 2018, expectations for the company are high, shares are at an all-time peak, and its valuation is higher than it's been in a decade at a P/E ratio of 23.READ MORE

Star-Tribune
Best Buy has sent out special delivery trucks of nothing but TVs — hundreds of thousands of TVs — to its stores in recent days to be ready for Black Friday crowds.
At the same time, its distribution centers are packed full of thousands more TVs stacked high, ready for the crush of online orders expected to come flying in Thanksgiving morning. READ MORE

BloombergCustomers are starting to place orders for Tesla Inc.'s new all-electric Semi truck, with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pre-ordering for both its U.S. and Canadian units.
"We have a long history of testing new technology — including alternative-fuel trucks — and we are excited to be among the first to pilot this new heavy-duty electric vehicle," Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg said in an email. READ MORE

Star-TribuneThe J.C. Penney store at Rosedale, Minnesota, has one of the retailer's new toy shops. It also has a display of smart home products, electronics and smartwatches.
The topsy-turvy year in retail has led to some surprising sights this holiday shopping season. Best Buy has a Barbie play set in its Black Friday ad. J.C. Penney, which stopped selling electronics and toys in stores more than a decade ago, will have a 55-inch Samsung 4K TV and PlayStation 4 video game consoles as doorbuster deals, in addition to the Lego building sets and LG smartwatches it began selling earlier this year.READ MORE

Bloomberg Gap Inc. and Ross Stores Inc. are showing that growth is possible for apparel retailers. You just have to offer cut-rate prices.
Both apparel companies saw their shares spike recently after posting comparable sales that exceeded analyst estimates. Gap relied on its budget-minded Old Navy chain for growth. Ross, meanwhile, used its off-price strategy to outperform expectations despite the hurricanes that battered Texas and Florida.READ MORE

PSFKToday's highly connected shopper doesn't think in terms of physical, online or mobile. They simply want to shop with their preferred store or brand how and when they want, and enjoy the best experience possible when they do. To reach out to this new type of consumer, retailers need to start treating their physical space as a more dynamic and personalized space for each shopper.
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New York PostIt's jingle hell.
One-quarter of American retail workers say their holiday spirit is dying because they're forced to listen to Christmas songs all day — with some saying it's damaging their emotional well-being, according to a new study.READ MORE

Convenience Store News Most retailers are responding to consumers' expectations of quick access to products by offering same-day delivery, according to the 2017 Digital Commerce Survey from retail management consulting firm BRP.
Currently, 51 percent of retailers indicate they offer same-day delivery, a sharp jump from 16 percent last year. Within the next two years, 65 percent plan to offer this service.
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CSP Daily NewsIt's often called the most important meal of the day, but breakfast is steadily falling off the radar — at least for at-home dining occasions. That's a key finding from Technomic's latest update to its Breakfast Consumer Trend Report, which reveals that consumers are slightly more likely to skip breakfast than they reported just two years ago. This change in behavior is largely coming at the expense of breakfast occasions at home. Additionally, consumers are now less likely to believe that skipping breakfast is unhealthy.
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Convenience Store DecisionsWhile some segments such as smokeless remain steadfast, the dynamics surrounding other tobacco products — including vape — are changing in part because of manufacturers’ aspirations to get their offerings to market.
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Convenience Store NewsThe snack bar market can expect to see three emerging trends, according to Technavio, a global technology research and advisory company. According to Technavio, these are the top three emerging market trends driving the snack bars market in the U.S.
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Army MWRU.S. Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (Army MWR) is also the G9 Division of Installation Management Command (IMCOM G9). Our work enhances the lives of Soldiers, Families, Reservists, National Guard members, DoD Civilians, Retirees and the entire U.S. Army community.
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U.S. Army In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, an uncustomary plethora of much-needed food drives are competing for donations this holiday season in storm-ravaged areas.
Entering the final stretch of their fifth-annual IMCOM/AEC Food Drive, volunteers from the U.S. Army Installation Management Command and Army Environmental Command are determined to deliver six tons worth of food and donations to the San Antonio Food Bank before Thanksgiving Day.
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LodgingMore brands are entering the hospitality space each year, and it's becoming increasingly unclear to many owners and developers whether flagged properties will stand out and remain relevant to guests in today's sea of lodging options, let alone years down the road. LODGING asked top development executives from six major hotel chains to weigh in on the value of branded hotels in the current lodging market, and their plans to sustain healthy brands that attract both owners and guests in the future. Below are their thoughts on priming and positioning franchises for success.
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